www-legal-discuss mailing list archives

>>> Like the RFC process the specifications are crafted by a closed
>>> group. However anyone can implement these specifications.
>>
>> I don't see how you came to that conclusion.
>
> I think I would get it from the Specification itself, "Legal Terms and
> Conditions regarding the Specification";
That's impossible. Here are example copyright licenses:
BSD:
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or
without modification, are permitted provided that the following
conditions are met:
Apache:
Subject to the terms and conditions of this License, each
Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual, worldwide,
non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable copyright
license to reproduce, prepare Derivative Works of, publicly
display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute the
Work and such Derivative Works in Source or Object form.
GPL:
You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's
source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that
you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an
appropriate copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep
intact all the notices that refer to this License and to the
absence of any warranty; and give any other recipients of the
Program a copy of this License along with the Program.
Do you see anything even remotely like the above phrases in the
below license to the OSGi specification?
Thank you for your request. The download of OSGi specifications
and specification files are covered by Legal Terms and Conditions
as appended below. Please read these Terms and Conditions.
If you choose to download the OSGi specifications and
specification files you are agreeing to these Legal Terms and
Conditions. To download the OSGi specification, please read the
following Licensing Agreement and then click the link below and
proceed to the download page.
LEGAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS REGARDING SPECIFICATION
Implementation of certain elements of the Open Services Gateway
Initiative (OSGi)Specification may be subject to third party
intellectual property rights, including without limitation,
patent rights (such a third party may or may not be a member
of OSGi). OSGi is not responsible and shall not be held
responsible in any manner for identifying or failing to identify
any or all such third party intellectual property rights.
THE RECIPIENT ACKNOWLEDGES AND AGREES THAT THE SPECIFICATION
IS PROVIDED AS IS AND WITH NO WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER, WHETHER
EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO
ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, NONINFRINGEMENT, FITNESS OF
ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR ANY WARRANTY OTHERWISE ARISING OUT
OF ANY PROPOSAL, SPECIFICATION, OR SAMPLE. THE RECIPIENT'S USE
OF THE SPECIFICATION IS SOLELY AT THE RECIPIENT'S OWN RISK.
THE RECIPIENT'S USE OF THE SPECIFICATION IS SUBJECT TO THE
RECIPIENT'S OSGi MEMBER AGREEMENT, IN THE EVENT THAT THE
RECIPIENT IS AN OSGi MEMBER. IN NO EVENT SHALL OSGi BE LIABLE
OR OBLIGATED TO THE RECIPIENT OR ANY THIRD PARTY IN ANY MANNER
FOR ANY SPECIAL, NON-COMPENSATORY, CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT,
INCIDENTAL, STATUTORY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING,
WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOST PROFITS AND LOST REVENUE, REGARDLESS OF
THE FORM OF ACTION, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, NEGLIGENCE,
STRICT PRODUCT LIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF OSGi HAS
BEEN INFORMED OF OR IS AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF ANY SUCH
DAMAGES IN ADVANCE. THE LIMITATIONS SET FORTH ABOVE SHALL BE
DEEMED TO APPLY TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE
LAW AND NOTWITHSTANDING THE FAILURE OF THE ESSENTIAL PURPOSE
OF ANY LIMITED REMEDIES AVAILABLE TO THE RECIPIENT.
THE RECIPIENT ACKNOWLEDGES AND AGREES THAT THE RECIPIENT
HAS FULLY CONSIDERED THE FOREGOING ALLOCATION OF RISK AND
FINDS IT REASONABLE, AND THAT THE FOREGOING LIMITATIONS ARE
AN ESSENTIAL BASIS OF THE BARGAIN BETWEEN THE RECIPIENT AND OSGi.
IF THE RECIPIENT USES THE SPECIFICATION, THE RECIPIENT AGREES
TO ALL OF THE FOREGOING TERMS AND CONDITIONS. IF THE RECIPIENT
DOES NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, THE RECIPIENT
SHOULD NOT USE THE SPECIFICATION AND SHOULD CONTACT OSGi
IMMEDIATELY.
I don't see any license there. Under international copyright law,
recipients must gain permission from the copyright owner in order
to redistribute or create derivative works. The OSGi membership
agreement, included below, explicitly states that the MEMBERS
retain ownership on what they do and OSGi is only given the right
to license their employee's work and to sublicense any combined work
to other MEMBERS. Thus, my interpretation is that OSGi does not
have sufficient rights in combined works to simply license them on
their own to the ASF.
Therefore, according to OSGi documentation, we need a separate
CLA from every significant contributor to the code base before
we can distribute that code at Apache.
....Roy